Three More
by pleaseexplain
Summary: Donna has some questions for Josh


Title: Three More

Author: pleaseexplain.

Rating: G

Disclaimer: See part one. They still aren't mine!

Feedback: makes me smile. morning she had been offered a job in the Vice

President's office. Press Secretary.

"I'm supposed to be getting ready for the balls this

evening. But I seem to have a... problem." He paused

for a moment to gauge her reaction. "Two problems, as

a matter of fact."

"I need...Donna, I don't have a date for this evening,

and the Congressman--President Santos..."

"You know, my wife and I are supposed to be the second

couple on the dance floor at the White House ball."

"Donnatella, will you marry me?"

"Yes."

Three Questions (2?)

Far too soon after her heart had finally stopped

pounding against her chest, Donna felt Josh pulling

out of their hug. It occurred to her that there were

other things happening in the world during their

embrace, but she thought about it for a moment, and

for once in her life she didn't care. But now Josh was

pulling away, and for a moment she could feel herself

worrying again, about loosing him. About never being

able to hear his voice, see his grin. Never being able

to touch him. And then a new though occurred to her.

And her heart leapt and her smile grew so wide it hurt

her cheeks. Still holding Josh's hand, she realized

that now she had a few questions.

"Josh?" He turned to face her, but his eyes were

avoiding her face. The tears shining in those eyes

were what finally made Donna realize that this was

real, not some kind of fantasy, an adrenaline induced

dream. "Josh?"

"Hm?" After a few seconds he did look at her. Their

eyes met and his smile mirrored hers, but with the

addition of his dimples. "Yes?" He drawled, before

beginning to lean in, ever so gently, to kiss his

fiancee. But she wouldn't let him.

"Josh." Her tone was more firm now, more controlling,

but it hadn't lost its good-natured happiness.

"Yes, Donnatella?" He knew she was just playing with

him now, that this was to be part of his life every

day, forever. The tiny frown that had overcome his

features when she had turned away from his kiss was

firmly back in place, simply because he had decided to

play along with her.

"It's my turn."

"What?"

"It's my turn." Seeing the still clueless expression

on the face of the man whose hand she was holding, she

decided to be kind to him and elaborate. "Now I have

some questions." And there it was. Josh's smile was

firmly back in place. He sat back down on one of the

folding chairs and motioned with his free hand for her

to do the same.

"Shoot."

Donna took her place in the chair next to him,

blinked her eyes, and stood up again, all without

letting go of his hand. She could still feel the faint

bitter taste that the adrenaline was leaving in her

mouth. "First: what was in the other box?"

Josh grinned, and she was reminded of his 'I'm da

man' expression. She was silent for a moment as she

remembered a time when he shared that expression with

his best friend, with his boss, and later with the

President of the United States. Donna loved his 'I'm

da man' expression. After a moment Josh replied to her

query. "I can't tell you." She could tell from his

eyes that he was teasing. This was Josh, her Josh. She

knew when he was teasing her and when he was being

serious. But for the first time in the fifteen minutes

or so since she had accepted his offer, Donna realized

what a bad idea it might be to marry him. What if he

kept things from her for real? There was a time in her

past when she would have married him on the spot, no

questions asked. But she had grown since then. She had

her own career now, away from him. And he had been

right, it was important. She needed to tell herself to

calm down several times before she finally did regain

enough self control to be able to ask him to explain

himself.

"Josh?" She was sure he could hear the tremor in her

voice. Donna went on, this time clearly and calmly.

"You're not gonna do that after..." She broke off when

her voice started to falter, finally letting go of his

hand and pacing slowly in front of him.

Clearly Josh could not stand the loss of contact with

her, as he immediately jumped out of his seat and

grabbed her hand again, once again allowing their

fingers to intertwine, and beginning to rub circles on

the back of her hand with his thumb. She looked at him

and registered the shock that was suddenly masking his

features. Donna looked away, studying the footprints

left in the ground from people who had come to watch

that morning's ceremony.

"Donna, I would never--"

"Yeah," She interrupted, embarrassed that she had

even had to ask. "Yeah, sorry, I... I know." She

returned her gaze to his face, but still avoided

looking into his warm, brown eyes. "I'm sorry, its

just..."

"I hated having to keep things from you, you know

that, right?" She smiled a little and nodded her head.

"I hated having to keep secrets from you. And I won't,

never again, okay? I promise." Donna was crying again,

but she hardly even noticed. Tears were falling from

her eyes but not clouding her vision, and it wasn't

until Josh brought his free hand up to wipe them off

her cheeks that she realized that they were there at

all. Josh smiled, and playfully continued. "I'm not

going to tell you what's in the box, though, cause its

a good secret, and it'll make you happy. And Donna? I

really want to spend the rest of my life making you

happy." Donna regained control of herself and put on a

little frown. She knew how much Josh hated to see her

unhappy, and she wanted to know what was in that box.

"You'll find out soon, I swear!" Josh defended, partly

to make her smile again and partly to keep his first

promise.

Donna smiled. She knew he was trying to keep his

secret and make her happy at the same time, and she

wasn't making it easier for him. "Okay."

"Really, its not..."

"Josh, its okay, I believe you. Its a surprise?"

"Yes."

"Good. I like surprises."

"Good." It occurred to Donna how much she had missed

conversations like this with him. Conversations in

which they could talk, really talk. And banter. She

had never missed anything so much in her life as she

had missed being able to banter with him as they

walked through the busy corridors of the West Wing.

"That it? No more questions?"

"No, there are more. You got to ask three, now I get

to ask three."

"You've asked more than that, though. You asked me

what was in the box, if I was going to keep secrets

from you after we were, you know, you asked if it was

a surprise..."

"Yeah, but those questions all fall under the larger

umbrella of the 'what's in the box' question, so I

still have two more."

"Oh, is that so, Donnatella?"

"Yes, that is so, Joshua."

"Ahkay." The smile that broke out over Donna's face

during this conversation was, to say the least,

radiant. That was it. That was what she had been

missing. And if there was anything, anything at all

that she could do to insure that she could have a

conversation like that every day until the end of

time, she would do it.

"Josh, why is Justice Lang here? The ceremony ended

almost," She paused, looking down at her wrist to see

the time. Then, remembering her watch sitting on her

night stand, she lifted their joined hands and looked

at Josh's watch. "Josh, your watch sucks. The ceremony

ended probably close to an hour ago. What's she still

doing here?"

Josh paused. "She's here because I asked her to stick

around for awhile. She's doing me a favor, and I

really should get up there and, you know, have her

actually do the favor and not just wait around for me

all day. Sooo," He dragged out the word playfully, and

she smiled, "Question three?"

"Josh! You didn't answer the last question. What's

the favor she is going to do for you?"

Josh smiled again at her persistence. "You'll find

that out when you find out what's in the other box.

Donna, really, she's up there waiting for us, it would

probably be a good idea to hurry up a little. So

what's question three?"

"Jo-sh!" Donna whined, affectionately.

Josh was now beginning to get anxious about making

Chief Justice Lang wait for him. "Donna, what was

question three?"

"Ah, yes. question three." She paused a moment and

took a breath. "When?"

"When what?"

Donna extracted her hand from his, held up her left

ring finger and looked at it pointedly. "My finger is

getting a little cold here, with nothing covering it."

Before Josh had started holding her hand, Donna had

regretted not having worn gloves to the January

ceremony, but now she was glad she hadn't.

"Well, it wouldn't have been cold if you hadn't taken

it away from my warm one, would it?"

"Josh!" It wasn't until this point that Josh

remembered the engagement ring in his pocket, and

brought the box back out, this time again checking for

the ring before he took it out and gently, carefully

slipping it onto her finger.

"So what was your question again?"

"When?" After asking this, Donna proceeded to stare

at him with curiosity in her eyes. It took several

long seconds before it dawned on Josh what, exactly,

she was talking about. And Donna once again witnessed

the 'I'm da man' grin.

"As soon as is humanly possible."

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